


Apocalypse

by UnknownUnseenUnheard



Series: The Infinite World [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Apocalypse, End of the World, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 01:11:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13493700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnknownUnseenUnheard/pseuds/UnknownUnseenUnheard
Summary: They'd thought it was over when they had defeated Ultimecia. How hilariously, terribly wrong they were. As the world falls around them, Squall tries to hold them together, even as the Heartless drive humanity to the very edge of existence. Third in the World Fall Series





	Apocalypse

A/N: So, I haven't played this game in years :p before I wrote this, I decided to go through a boss rush. I probably shouldn't have gone after Ultimecia first without remembering how to play. I kept getting to Griever before killing him and him killing me in turn. Which wouldn't have been too bad if I didn't only have three characters set up to actually be effective.

The ending of VIII was kinda trippy. I can see where the Squall is dead theories come from. Are we sure he didn't just eat the wrong mushroom?

Also… I just realized that Quintis is not, in fact, called Quintis, as I've been mentally calling her, but Quistis. This is like the time I realized it was Rinoa and not Riona.

Anyyyyyway, random anecdote over. Enjoy

Published: 1/26/2018

Warnings: Character Death

* * *

**Apocalypse**

Apocalypse. The end of the world. Angels and Demons, tearing the planet apart. The final clash between good and evil. Michael against Lucifer, their age long struggle at long last razing all of creation. Two brothers, locked in combat for the fate of the Universe.

Angels razing the world. It didn't matter whether they were good or evil. It didn't matter if they walked on the side of Light or if they were Fallen. It didn't matter, because the end result would still be the same. Humanity, caught in between.

Squall had never been religious. Sure, he understood the concept of God and this and that, but Squall had never believed. He didn't believe things that he couldn't see with his own two eyes. He almost wanted to believe now. He almost wanted to believe, because wouldn't that give him someone to blame?

Ultimecia herself stands before them, gasping and wounded. Her wings, her glorious wings, have been torn asunder. Right now, she looks very much like a fallen angel. Very much like the creatures of old, brought down to earth by mere humans.

"Fools… Fools…. Nothing… Nothing kan stop it… Nothing kan stop it no-"

Squall doesn't let her finish. The time for words is long past gone. Not after all they've been through. Not after all the struggles. Not after walking past the sea of corpses to get here, the endless bodies Ultimecia had left wherever she walked.

She wasn't just content with causing a massacre in her own time. No, no, that wasn't good enough for Ultimecia. It wasn't good enough, so she reached out into the past instead. Her presence, worming its way, stripping wills and causing chaos. No. Squall wasn't going to listen to her at all.

He was going to break her.

Lionheart sings in his hands as it rips through the Sorceress, and the world around them shatters and breaks.

* * *

Shadows…

So many shadows…

All consuming…

The darkness…

Eternal darkness…

No…

No, there must be… There must be a way, there must.

There must be.

* * *

Seifer goes literally wild the second they get back. He screams bloody murder, Hyperion in hand as he swings, crying out like a banshee as he tries to take of Squal's head.

Which, really, is bloody stupid considering that they're surrounded in every direction by not only Seeds, but Laguna's personal guard. Seifer is pinned to the floor with blades aimed at his throat before his gunblade can even finish falling to the ground in a clang.

"You really don't get it, do you, Seifer? You lost." Quintis stalked forth, frowning down at Seifer in disapproval, a hand on her hips.

Seifer, though… Seifer merely laughed. It grew more maniacal by the second, more broken. More hysterical. Quintis couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine.

"Yo, let us go! We we're only doing our duty, y'know!"

"Fools. Doomed. Everyone."

Squall turns. Kiros is holding a blade to Fuu's throat. The petite girl isn't phased by this at all. Instead, she stared at them all coldly. She stares at Squall coldly, accusingly. Rai himself struggles against Ward, but the mute man's hold is too firm, leaving the former Seed immobilized.

"What on hell are you guys talking about? We just saved the world from a psychotic Sorceress bent on destroying all creation! We're awesome super badass heroes!" Zell declares with a wild fist bump, an action that is emulated all around them as their fellow Seed cheer.

Then, there's an explosion, fire and smog blasting into the sky. Squall spins. There, miles away, rising from the ground is a massive monster cloaked in shadow. A muscular upper body that belayed the tiny legs it had in comparison, the monster roared, swingin a massive claw as shadows blasted out, striking about Eshtar in a wild array of destruction.

"No…" Siefer spoke, the fight seemingly draining out of the former knight as stopped struggling against the hold. "No… You've condemned us. Condemned us all. You've brought them here. You killed one monster, but in doing so summoned what made her. You've doomed us all."

* * *

They come, endlessly.

There is no end to them.

No magic can slay them. Not for long. The only thing that can requires the user to channel the energy of their very soul, and that is what her powers draw from. That is what strengthens her. That is what her magic pulls upon.

Throughout history, Sorceresses have been known to go mad. They go mad because of the nature of their power, not the fact that they have power in the first place. No. It is far different from that.

If it was power alone, then Junctioning would cause all who used it to go mad with power. The powers of a Sorceress do not work like that.

They draw from the air around them. They draw from the very soul, pushing forth. That is what makes a Sorceress so powerful.

That was what made Ultimecia powerful.

It was also a path that often led to madness. The power pulls at the soul, destabilizes it. That is why a Sorceress will often choose a Knight, will often bond themselves. It is a method of grounding themselves, but the bond is a dangerous one. Just like the Knight can influence the Sorceress, the Sorceress can influence the Knight, bending the Knight to their will.

Which, of course, is made all the worse when both Sorceress and her chosen champion aren't that inclined to fight the madness and instead revel in it.

In a world of ruin and ash as the Heartless came, again and again, Ultimecia slowly but surely drowned in the darkness, giving in to the ecstasy of madness. Surrendering to it, because what else was she to do, as the world around her was torn asunder?

* * *

Seifer, predictably, is in chains. Squall is standing before him, arms crossed. The rest of his little gang, his absentee father, and Loire's two personal guards stand with him.

Matron, it seems, is the only one that is actually looking at him with concern. Seifer suppose she understands. She understands, because out of all of them, she alone was also victim to Ultimecia's manipulations.

Oh. Wait. No she wasn't.

Seifer shoots an unimpressed look at Rinoa. The delicate little princess glares right at him. How Squall doesn't break her is beyond Seifer. With those dainty little hips and her twig like figure, its a wonder she even made it this far.

"Out with it, Seifer! What the hell did you and Ultimecia do? Was this some sort of back up plan?" Quistis demands, hands curling on that whip the woman was so fond of. Beside her, Irvine looks like he's resisting the urge to shoot Siefer then and there. Hn. How rude.

Seifer tosses his head back and laughs.

Predictably, this does not gain him any friends in the room as he receives glares in responses. Good old Cid is actually starting to get a little red. How adora-

Matron stalks forth.

Seifer freezes.

Without hesitation, the woman lifts and hand and strokes it along Seifer's cheerk. Kind. Gentle. Soothing. Just like when he was a child. Just like Ultimecia did, wearing Matron's skin. Wearing Matron's skin, and deceiving Seifer into opening his heart.

"Seifer… Tell us what you know. Please."

Seifer's life has been a constant motion of ups and downs. He'd lost his parents early on, victims in the war against Adel. He'd slowly started to go mad when he realized the Guardian Forces were slowly but surely feeding off his memories. He'd achieved his dream, only for the fallacy of reality to come crashing down upon him. In the end, Squall was far closer to reaching Seifer's dream than Siefer himself, and wasn't that just fantastic?

But, now…

Now, Seifer supposed, none of that mattered.

They were all going to die anyways.

"Ultimecia… She controlled me similar to you, Matron. She bonded my mind to hers, but, obviously, I was a little… Freer, where as you were entirely subjected." Seifer spoke. Matron looked nigh uncomfortable at the words. Seifer couldn't really blame her. Not at all. "Because of that, I was able to see… See more. See into her. See her world from her perspective."

"Her world?"

Hm. Those were the first words little ice boy had spoken so far. Matron took a step back as Squall stalked forth, eyes narrowed.

"A world of ruin and ash. A barren, endless wasteland. A world made by… By those creatures. Creatures you've brought here." Seifer had the satisfaction of watching Squall, cold aloof and unmoveable Squall, pale. Good. Squall believed him. He should. He should know exactly what he'd done. "The monsters that stalk the land, them? They are nothing. Nothing, compared to these abominations. They're known as the Heartless. They… Devour souls. Devour and destroy. They can't be killed. They reform, endless, converting everything around them until there is nothing left." Seifer revealed.

"That- that's crazy! And, even if it was true, why should we believe you, of all people?"

Hm Seifer had always assumed Selphie was a little more grounded than that. Now, Zell, on the other hand…

"We shouldn't! He's full of shit! Where are these monsters coming from and what do they want! Tell the truth!"

Speaking of annoying little chikenshits…

"Enough!" Matron spun and snapped. Zell falter. Huh. The look she was sending the other blonde was usually a look she had reserved for Seifer when he was behaving particularly bad. It was nice seeing it directed at someone else.

"Endless… Wasteland. A dry, endless desert."

All eyes snapped towards Squall, who was rapidly paling more and more, taking the shade of old oatmeal. His gaze was fixed off in the distance, seeing something that wasn't there. A memory, flashing in his mind.

"Squall?" Rinoa wrapped an arm around the Seed Commander's arm. Squall turned towards her, hand gripping hers with a squeeze.

"So. You've seen it." Seifer observed.

Squall's gaze snapped towards him, the soft expression he had shot Rinoa burning away into that familiar look of righteous anger.

"I did, while coming back from the Compression. The remains of a world. I had assumed Ultemica had done that."

Seifer, however, merely shook his head.

"No… She was perhaps the last one standing. Everyone else was gone. She used Time Magic to keep them out of her castle, but, the rest of that world? Ravaged." Seifer said.

"If all of this is true, 'if'," Irvine emphasized the word, "Then why did Ultimecia try to off us all? Why is she running around messing with our timeline? What the hell was the point of the whole Time Compression?!"

"Isn't obvious?" Laguna interrupted. Esthar's leader looked around at them all, his face twisting in slow realization. "She was trying to stop the Heartless. She was trying to erase them. To do that…" he trailed off.

"Time Compression. With it, she would have been able to rewrite reality…" Matron finished.

Squall, personally, had a hard time equating what they were learning now versus the mental image of the cackling form of Ultimecia ranting about how she would torture them for all eternity because they were 'akkursed seeds' that were meddling with her goals

"And she couldn't have just told us that?" Squall snapped.

"Of course not. Haven't you realized it yet? She was the one last one left standing on the entire planet. And insane. Besides, for her plan to work, she'd be destroying reality and remaking it. Do any of you approve?" Seifer drawled.

Squall blanched. No. He very much did not approve of any such plan, thank you very much.

"We brought them back with the Time Compression. Which means… Ultimecia's future. The one she was so desperate to stop, to undo…" Rinoa felt a shiver run down her spine. When she had pulled Squall from the Compression, she had seen that world. A world of endless destruction and decay, a world of ash, barren, lifeless.

A world that wasn't centuries in the future, like they had initially believed.

That world was coming now, because they had brought if forth, despite the best of intentions.

"Fuck."

* * *

They're gone.

They're all gone.

Alone.

She's alone.

Alone, in the darkness.

Alone, because the world is falling.

Alone, because they brought this about.

Alone, as the madness ensnares her, as the madness starts to fill her mind.

There's no one.

No one left to help her, no one left to ground her. No voice of reason to keep her from drowning, which is exactly what she does. She drowns in it, and she dreams. Dreams of a better world. A world that she will make.

All existence, denied.

* * *

Just like Seifer had warned, they were damn near unstoppable.

Kill. They could kill the Heartless a hundred times over, cut them down again and again. It didn't make a difference. It made no difference, because the dregs of shadows would coalesce again and again, reforming endlessly. An eternal army of darkness, forging itself time and time again.

Fisherman's Horizon, predictably, is the first to fall. With no weapons, they are defenseless against the onslaught. The proceeding massacre leaves the place barren, a swarming den of monsters spreading further out onto the planet.

Laguna had personally believed that the Lunar Cry had been bad. He took back those words. This, here and now? This was worse. Far worse than anything they could possibly imagine.

So bad that Laguna himself had taken to the fields. In times like these, tossing aside the role of a politician for the role of a warrior seemed necessary.

Laguna fired round after round. His son seemed to dance on the battlefield, his Gunblade moving with such practices ease as he cut down Heartless, again and again. Whatever Heartless Squall just so happened to miss, Laguna would cut down.

Father-son bonding time was really not going the way Laguna imagined it would.

A snarl behind him was all the warning Laguna had. Without hesitation, the gunman dropped to the ground in a roll as the the claws of a Neoshadow rippled out. Heartless Soldiers, small and tiny and wearing their strange armor, spun about the battlefield, moving so quickly you'd think they'd all cast Haste on themselves.

Laguna however, despite his rather youthful appearance, was not as young as he once was.

Laguna screamed as he was pinned to the ground, ice shards slamming him down.

Wait…

Ice?

Laguna glanced up.

Shiva. Except, she wasn't really Shiva anymore, was she? Eyes glowing with a golden malevolence as shadows seemed to dance on the Guardian Force's flesh, the Ice Queen stalked forth, the ground freezing below her feet as she did so.

So, this… This is what Seifer had meant. This is what he had meant when he had stated that the Heartless converted. Was this what was going to happen to the rest of them? Death within death, converted into monsters. Shells of their former selves, consuming more and more until there was nothing left. Nothing left of this planet, nothing left of the stars, nothing left of the universe.

A blade, bright and blue and shimmering, ripped it's way through Shiva's chest. The Ice Queen's eyes snapped in surprise as Squall appeared behind her.

"I bested you once. The true you. But, you… You aren't Shiva. Not anymore. Begone, false one."

Squall pulled at the gunblade and Shiva exploded, her flesh shattering into dark crystals as she fell in pieces around them. Squall looked up, staring straight at Laguna, at his father.

There was a haunted look in his son's eyes. A haunted, broken look that made Laguna realize that, even if they did manage to somehow make it out of this, even if they did somehow manage to beat back the Heartless and reclaim their world… Nothing would ever be right.

* * *

"I understand why Ultimecia didn't say anything. As you stated, she was rather unstable."

"Is this really the time, instructor!"

"Best time as any, I'd wager!"

Quistis and Seifer make a strange team, to be sure. Former instructor and student work in tandem, the pair of them spinning around each other as they fight. Seifer, slashing with his blade and Quisitis, her whip a burning fire slashing through the Shadows around them.

Seifer leaps in mid air and fires. Why Squall never bothered modifying his gunblade to actually shoot is beyond Seifer, but it's damn useful. A Darkball explodes in fiery flames as he added his favorite element to the shot. Seifer smirked before dashing out and slashing away. The more dead the better.

"Regardless, I must ask: I understand Ultimecia's reason for silence. What I do not understand, however, is your own."

Even as Quistis says the words, she abandons her weapon, instead opting for blasting away at the Heartless with laser beams shooting right out of her eyes.

Blue Magic.

Well. Seifer will just have to imitate, won't he?

Flames explode around him. Fire Cross might not be as versatile as Quisitis' skill set, but it still gets the job done. Seifer leaps in mid air, swinging his gunblade as a massive cross of fire etches itself into the ground, Heartless screaming as they are torn apart, whips of smoke floating off into the air around him.

Deling City is lost. Honestly. They should just fortify Eshtar, but does anyone listen to Seifer? No, of course not.

Seifer lands easily enough, his back to Quistis. She has his back, and he has hers. That's the only way to survive in a world like this one.

"Honestly? I didn't even know. Not really. Not until the lot of you weakened her. I'd gotten glimpses before, but nothing concrete." Seifer states.

Then, the unexpected happens.

A thing of utter evil, because what else can describe the scene before them?

There is a scream, human and alive and familiar. A scream of someone they both know, of someone they grew up with.

Quistis and Seifer spin.

"Zell- plea- argh!"

Irvine's voice cuts off with a sharp gasp as Zell stands, tall and proud and a glowing pink heart in his hands. Except, it can't really be called Zell anymore. Shadows cling to his flesh and, for a moment, Seifer sees an image of Diablos glowing behind the fighter.

Zell's eyes glow yellow, his teeth elongated as he grins. The heart pulses in his hands before fading, absorbing into his skin, the energy running down his arm.

"Ze- Zell?" Quistis gasps. Seifer can't blame her. He himself can't even imagine what his response would be to seeing Fuu and Rai slaughtering one another. As it is, he thinks Seifer thinks he's going to be sick.

Those twisted eyes snap towards them.

Zell takes a step, and behind him, Diablos seems to solidify.

"His Guardian Force fell… And took him with it." Seifer states the obvious with glowing trepidation. They knew a GF could be converted. They didn't know a GF could be converted while Junctioned, therefore converting the user.

Zell raised his hand and the world suddenly got a thousand times heavier. Seifer fell to his knees, Hyperion falling beside him as the pressure mounted.

Shit. This was how he was going to die? Done in by the chicken wuss while the other was on some darkness induced high from having finished off Kinneas?

"Zell. Zell, please!" Quistis is doing the exact same thing as Kinneas. It won't get her anywhere, Seifer realizes. This isn't the same boy they had grown up with anymore. That boy is gone, his heart, his soul, consumed.

All that's left is a beast that will tear them to pieces, making them mirror images of himself as he feeds upon what's left of their remains.

Seifer roars.

Ifrit's flames, brilliant and bright, glow around him. The gravity spell shatters. Seifer lifts up his gunblade, and, without a moment's hesitation, he swings.

Zell dissolves, just like the rest. Behind him, Seifer can hear it. Broken sobs of a broken woman, her strength failing her, because, really. It's too much. Far too much.

This world…

It's enough to drive anyone mad.

* * *

The madness is an ever encroaching thing.

It consumes the mind, consumes the soul.

She isn't even sure if she's still herself. She has no idea. Who was she? Who had she been? What had been her purpose?

All that's left is death.

Is she dead, too?

The Heartless are relentless, but they flee from her.

They flee from her power.

They flee in terror, and they kneel. They kneel, because she has power, and the Heartless always follow the strong. They follow those with power, those willing to take it, those willing to walk in the dark.

Is that what she is now?

The bloodstained walls around her tell her that yes, she damn well is.

* * *

Squall hates it when Seifer is right.

Despite their best efforts, they do, in fact, get pushed back. The rest of the world falls, and all that's left is Esthar. Esthar is the last stand. The last city on the whole goddamn planet. The only place that hasn't been overrun.

Balaam. Galbadia. Trabia. Entire continents lie in ruin.

The Heartless are an unrelenting force. It's a wonder there's anything left.

Matron certainly isn't, Squall remembers with a pang. Matron is dead, just like the rest. Fallen, defending Balaam. Fallen, alongside her husband. Fallen, while Squall and his father were busy trying to rescue a town that didn't even believe in arming themselves in the face of a literal Apocalypse.

And, that's what this was, right?

This was the Apocalypse.

The stories, Squall realized, were wrong.

Angels would not descend from the heavens and wage war with one another. Michael would not cut down Lucifer. God would not rein over humanity, because the only thing that was left in the entire world was shadows and darkness.

This was a war they couldn't possible win.

A war they were losing.

A war that Squall now realized he didn't care for. He didn't care anymore, because this, infront of him, was worse than everything else combined.

"No, no, no! Dammit! Live! You have to live!"

She saved him, in more ways than one. She saved him from his solitude. She saved him from himself. She saved him from the eternal abyss, her voice, her love, their bond, pulling him from the void. Her love, letting him come back, even as the last dregs of Ultimecia's spell nearly tore his mind apart.

A world that Squall had assumed was an illusion. A world that was all around them.

Rinoa is unresponsive.

Her heart is gone. Her heart is gone, stolen by a Shadow, of all things. It managed what a Behemoth could not. It managed what Ultimecia could not. It struck Rinoa down, slipping behind her and claw reaching out, plucking her soul right out.

Around them, the battle rages, but Squall can't bring himself to care. What's the point of fighting when they've already lost everything?

Then, dark energy explodes from Rinoa and Squall is flung back. Smashing into the ground, Squall rolls several times before coming up.

Around them, the battle pauses. Even the Heartless, wild and destructive beyond measure, halt their actions. Squall can even see some of them quivering in fear, and if it weren't for the shock currently keeping him frozen in place, Squall would join them.

Rinoa's eyes open, but she's no longer Rinoa. She's no longer Rinoa' because her heart is gone. Her heart is gone and her body remains, so she is nothing. She is a Nobody, and her body twists. It twists with the malice of that which struck her down, and pure blade wings erupt from her back even as her hair loses color, becoming familiar strands of silver.

Ultimecia stands before them all.

The Sorceress looks about, confusion in her eyes.

Then, she acts.

There are no words. No acknowledgement. Nothing to indicate that anything of the woman Squall loves is left inside that broken husk of a corpse. Instead, Rino- Ultimecia gives out a shrill shriek, and magic explodes around them.

The Heartless shatter apart, and Rinoa is gone.

* * *

Heart.

She's lost her heart.

She isn't herself anymore. No. She can't be.

Her soul is gone. Torn out. Torn out, just like Zell's. Just like Irvine's. Just like so many around them, her heart is gone.

She has been reborn.

Reborn, and she will do the same for this world.

She will make it anew.

Like her, it would be reborn.

"My name… Is Ultimecia. I shall kompress time. All existence shall be denied, the world reborn. Reborn, as I have been."

* * *

A fist smashes into Seifer's face as he's slammed into the ground. Really, now, this is surprising. Never had he been able to get this reaction out of Squall. Squall was always so derangedly calm that this, right here? In any other situation, it would be downright amusing.

"Did you know! TELL ME, SEIFER, DID YOU KNOW!"

Wild and crazed. That's what Squall is. Like a caged animal, poked and prodded until he's snapped.

"Squall, stop it!"

"Let go of me! Let me kill him! LET GO!"

It takes Laguna, Quistis, Rai and Selphie working together to pull Squall off. He's still got that wild look in his eyes, such fire. Such fire, and such pain.

Seifer stands to full height. He can already feel the bruise starting to swell up. He stares into Puberty Boy's eyes for a second before being forced to look away.

That anguish… He can't stare into that. He just can't.

"I… No. I didn't. I didn't, I promise you. I had- I had no idea, I-"

Fuu has never been much for words. She rarely spoke normally, and, when she did, it was more for shock effect. Fuu was a women of actions, and not a very soft one either. Still, she wrapped arms around Seifer and he felt himself break.

Break, for a love he hadn't been entirely over. Break, as Rai joined in as well. Break, as the world died all around them.

* * *

"We could fly up to the stars. The Lunar base." Laguna suggests.

"The Lunar Base, with which we've lost contact with and most likely got overrun as well?" Kiros snaps.

This is it.

The last of them.

Squall. Seifer. Quistis. Fuu. Selphie. Rai. Laguna. Kiros. Ellone.

Everyone else is dead and gone.

Oh, sure. There might be some survivors. But, here? They are all that's left.

Ellone looks about at them all.

Her power… Her power allows people to look back onto the past. Her power, imitated by the Sorceress. How, none of them are sure, but they can only hazard a guess. Odine and his machine, then, never came to fruition. How could they, when the man himself was dead and broken?

Ultimecia gained it, however, and Eloine can guess. She can guess, and she realizes that here and now, there's only really one path left for them.

This reality is theirs. There's no undoing what's been done. Ultimecia's plan could potentially work, but there was no guarantee. And, as she was now, Ultimecia's madness would likely make more of a mess than good.

One solution, then, and one only.

Ellone let out a sad smile as the others froze, a familiar feeling enveloping them.

"Ellone… What are you doing?" Laguna spun, gazing at the girl that he had helped raise with growing horror.

"What has to be done, Uncle Laguna. This… Is my last gift to you. To all of you. Be free."

Normally, such an act would never work. Normally, her powers couldn't do anything like this. Normally, it would have been insane to even consider.

Ellone had learned, however.

If Ultimecia could alter, why couldn't Ellone?

But, this wasn't altering. Now. This was different.

Ellone watched as time bent around her companions, as time twisted them, sending them out, sending them forth. Sending them to the cosmos, possibly scattering them across time and space. For all she knew, they wouldn't remember anything properly. Time magic is tricky like that.

However, this was the best that she could do. It was the best, and what she would do. She-

The heavy metal doors blew apart.

Ellone closed her eyes as the steps behind her grew ever closer, one after the other.

"My sweet Ellone… You knew how this would end, did you not?"

Rinoa. But not Rinoa. No. Rinoa was gone. This abomination… This abomination was all that was left.

Ellone let out a sharp gasp as a hand ripped into her. Eyes snapping open by reflex, the last thing Ellone saw as the world started to fade was Ultimecia, holding a glowing heart in her hands, absorbing the power into herself before Ellone could even hit the floor.

* * *

Seifer is years younger, and so is his mind. Twilight Town is in some serious need of law and order, and he intends to deliver his own personal brand of it. Grinning, Seifer turns to Fuu and Rai.

"So… What do you guys think of starting a Disciplinary Committee?"

Selphie, much like Seifer, is small. So much smaller. Like him, her memories fade. Her memories fade as she skips along, the sun of Destiny Island shining above her. What a perfect, perfect world.

Although… As she looks off into the distance, she can't help but feel a pang. The image of a cowboy, for whatever reason, comes to mind. Strangely, a tear trails down her cheek at the thought.

As for Squall…

Eyes blink up.

"Who're you?"

Squall yelps, scrambling away before looking up.

Around him are strangers. A pale skinned asian girl, a woman in a pink dress, a man with a matchstick in his mouth of all things, and, of all things, a man dressed in blue robes with the longest beard Squall had ever seen.

"Hey!" the asian chick snapped. Squall looked up. "I asked a question: who are you?"

Squall ponders for a second. He ponders, even as his memories begin to poor in. For whatever reason, he can remember clearly. He remembers clearly, and knows just how twisted everything is. He remembers, and he laments.

"Sq- Leon." Leon amends. Squall is a name that belonged to someone else. Squall is the name of a man that failed to protect the things that mattered. Squall is the name of a failure, and its a name Leon isn't worthy of bearing, not anymore. Not unless he can set things right, but how can he? So, he rejects that name.

Rejects it, as Rinoa rejected hers.

Reborn, in a way, just like she was.

"My name… My name is Leon."


End file.
